A not so quiet Saturday Fly-In

[Predator]

Today, after a cold & frosty start the day turned out perfect weather wise, unfortunately (at least for me) it was one of those Crash & Bash (or is that Crash & Burn ?) days.  Went to the field with 3 planes & came home with them all needing repair. Luckily all minor repairs but it was just one of those days.

Started off with the X-Vert VTOL wing and it flew well (now that I have finally unlocked Acro mode). Unfortunately on the 3rd flight the VTOL landing went a bit awry and a couple of previously repaired joints failed again.

Next was the Raptor FPV plane. A couple of quick auto tune flights for the iNav system went well but on the third flight the control surfaces seem to get crossed up between the ailerons & the flaps. No idea why but I’ll check it out tomorrow. Luckily only the rudder got dislodged so a nice easy fix.

Last but no least was the mighty Bix 2 Trainer, it was flying perfectly till I fitted the old Mobius camera too close to the GPS, this caused a loss of GPS signal part way through the flight and it had to be brought home in manual mode.  Fitted the camera onto the wing away from the GPS and she was flying fine till it then hit a tree. Oh well just one of those days.

At least we got Dave’s Razor sorted out and he had several successful flights, as did most of the other 14 pilots in attendance.

Ross had a bit of an FPV landing mishap (don’t know if anyone got it on video though). Kermit maidened his new Bix 3 without incident & Andrew got his 3m glider back in the air today after his mid air collision with Moose’s Ranger a couple of weeks ago.

[Hoppy]

Yes the weather today was perfect and 13 cars present so headcount 14 I believe, which is a record. There were very weak thermals after lunch that Chris Adams from Lonny found and even my Fox could just stay up in them. I flew around trees with my S800 Wing and then my Esky Eagles. Here is the S800 video:

 

 

And here is the Eagles video:

 

 

[Kermit]

[Sinker]

Nice video Kermit!

But as usual you got it all wrong again, the first walk of shame you had me doing was me actually doing my good deed for the day, I was retrieving Mike’s canopy which blew off mid flight. which you can see me carrying back.

The second so called walk of shame was me coming in to land and seeing our beloved president standing in the way I took immediate action and steered out of his way. and landing perfectly, just a bit far away. (and on the wheels not like others)

 

[Predator]

Well Uncle G, while the Frog was wrongly picking on you he missed most of my oops moments yesterday (and there were a few) so at least some good came from it.

As for his statement about damaged cars, this was also grossly incorrect. Not only was Chris’s Tesla scarred for life, if you watch the Slo-Mo video you will clearly see that the RunCam 2, ejected from the “Black Bitch” of Bad Angel, collided heavily with the passengers side door of my Outback leaving a massive dent.  Shame, Shame, Shame.

Footnote: well the dent is massive if 1) you know where to look and 2) if you use a magnifying glass !!

[Kermit]

On a closer inspection of the offending video there is I feel enough evidence for a field gang board of enquire  conducted through  TOP GUN FLIGHT SCHOOL   to exonerate MR BAD ANGEL  for an aircraft that did loose its wifi connections after a phone call was accepted long distance  ( possibly )  We at TGFS  will be impartial to the proceedings and will give a positive result  it was also noted that a red camera was ejected from the offending aircraft  but at such a low velocity that “as an impartial observer ” the camera  (exhibit A )  could  not possibly have done  any damage to PREDATORS fancy expensive  4×5 corolla  so that shouldn’t be in the evidence folder  one should look at the car next to the 4×5 “predators”  for any possible damage to the door as opening said door could bump and leave a ding    just say’n     I leave it up to the FLIGHT LINE GANG  to request an inquiry  NOW A FOOT NOTE in relation to   UNCLE G    I ask DID  he not have to do the walk of shame  if the answer is yes  THEN THATS IT …FINISHED  the camera never lies

[Predator]

Funny thing is I’ve NEVER seen a “RED” RunCam2, plenty of orange ones & even a few black ones but NEVER red.

A Colour-blind Safety Officer is just not on so I have to agree with Uncle G that e need a new one.

As for WiFi connections being lost, we won’t even go there as old DJI quads are about the only flying thing these days that use WiFi !!

[Kermit]

NOW NOW MR PREDATOR SIR, YOU ARE PLAYING PADANTICS  with the colour red / orange so what…… close enough is good enough  as for wifi  /pfc/ pwd god knows WHATS ITS CALLED NOWA DAYS   as stated before UNCLE G had a walk of shame  did he not .   padantics again  surely

[Sinker]

I think we need a new safety officer?

Kermit, my plane landed perfectly, no dents, no broken bits, on the wheels, so the answer is NO!

[Kermit]

[Kermit]

UNCLE G   and you think I didn’t know that ……………………..just say’n

[Predator]

Uncle G, you will be pleased to know that there was NOTHING wrong with the iNav flight controller in the Raptor.

I know I was a bit under the weather (what with a bad headcold & the several lots of medication-mixed with a beer or two) when I assembled it earlier last week but in-depth checking today showed I was far worse than I thought.

Interestingly enough on the first flight and in servo trim mode the Raptor flew almost perfectly, it was only the second flight when I deployed the flaps on takeoff did it play up a bit.

Turned out I had the Left Aileron connected correctly but the Right Aileron output was connected to the Left Flap, the Flaps output was connected to the Right Flap correctly but also the Right Aileron.

So it ended up that the Flap Switch operated both the Control Surfaces on the Right Wing and the Aileron operated both Control Surfaces on the Left Wing, luckily they both went in the same direction. The iNav system obviously made sense of it as she flew fine till I used the flaps.

Moral of the story is don’t try and assemble complex machinery when even slightly under the weather.

I’ve left the cold meds alone today AND relabelled all the connections correctly so after a controller reset and a quick repair of the Rudder she should be ready to take to the air again.

I need to practice what I preach and actually check correct operation of ALL control surfaces before flight, not just wriggle the sticks. Lesson learnt (hopefully).

[Sinker]

Now it all makes sense, I was trying to work out how you could change the outputs without plugging in the computer?

Well done, it could have been a much worse result.

[Bad Angel]

Nice stuff… yeah I had a real bad day…pilot error at the end, started out all ok for several flights last and fatal flight lost fpv eventually got fpv back only to misjudge landing approach smacked into I think was an expensive vehicle basically wrote off the Black-Bitch at last (I hear you all say) so I have reluctantly booked into Kermits shonky Top/Bottom Gun Flight refresher school….

What really has me pissed is that Bixlers not available until September, oh well sh#t happens…. ps anyone wants their aircraft flown, give me a call… That is all.

[Kermit]

BAD ANGEL   the word SHONY can not be used in the same sentence with top  gun flight school   we are an accredited flight flight school with thousands of happy pilots    doing their thing    Your booking is confirmed for a refresher  happening  thingi….. as usual bring your wallet and a spare pair of nickers  CFI  KERMIT LA FROG    president TOP GUN FLIGHT SCHOOL

[Bad Angel]

Mmmmmmmmm ?

[Author]

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